>>It's available because so many people complained about no live histogram on the S7000, now the complaint is that it does not change to reflect changes you make, perhaps that will be corrected on the S9x00's sucessor.&lt;&lt;

LOL So now we have a useless historgram rather than NO histogram. I can see your logic, though, Clyde. Too bad Fuji seems to have just "reacted" to this rather than "reacted well." Ah well. No biggie. I never had a histogram on my FE2, still managed to make pictures with good exposures

Well, you have to be careful what you wish for and be very specific! I remember the threads on every Fuji forum complaining that the S7000 did not have a live histogram, everybody asked for it but nobody specified that it needed to reflect any changes you made, so that's what we got!! And it has not stopped me from taking some beautiful pics on my S7k and I'm sure many will still take beautiful pics on their S9x00.

The live histogram DOES change with exposure/photometry settings! Place the camera on a table, and turn it on. Set the camera to P, S, A, M, press the info button to bring up the histogram. Best to watch it on the LCD. Next, turn the photometry swith, (the small dial to the right of the view finder. The histogram will adjust to the metering. Then watch it change as you adjust shutter speed/ aperature.

This histogram is the real thing and is a significant advantage over some DSLR's since you have to work at composing in the viewfinder then call up and look at the histogram on the LCD.

Whoops, :sadne small but meaningful change to that last post, the histogram changes as you adjust the exposure compensation. Thats done while holding down the small +/- button (on top right close to the shutter)while turning the command wheel, (top right most on the camera).

It works great and as you become more familiar with its use and what its representing, you will wonder how you did without it.